The Olympic Stadium

Sometimes, the best days are the one's where you make plans at the last minute. That was today. Originally we had decided we would go to a beach we hadn't been to. But, Elijah didn't want to go to a beach today because we had just been to a beach on Saturday. So, last night Matt and I were racking our brains trying to come up with a plan B. Finally after we had been in bed for a while, it hit me. One of my friends had told me that the Planes 2 movie had just come out here and that it was only in English until Wednesday, and then it switches to Greek with English subtitles. We didn't know what time the movie would be, but we decided we would go to The Mall (truly, that's it's name), have lunch and catch the movie. Well, when Matt got on the computer this morning he found out we could either watch it at 6pm or 7:15pm, which are both too late for our kids with school the next morning.
It always frustrates me when we have plans and they don't go the way I planned. It's one of my character faults. I woke up with a headache this morning, so I was already grumpy and then our plans fell through and I did not want to sit in the house all day. So, I started looking through our Athens tour guide books for something to do.
We decided we would go see the Temple of Zeus and the Olympic Stadium. Even though it was pretty hot outside the kids were on board and excited. We quickly got ready only to sit in traffic! Things die down in August in Athens, especially the traffic and with it only being the first day of September we really didn't anticipate any traffic. Anyway, we circled around where we wanted to be and finally found a parking spot pretty near the Olympic Stadium. We had planned (there's that word again!) to go to the Temple of Zeus first and then hit the Olympic stadium, but we were so close to the Stadium we went there first.
Across the street from the stadium.

The Stadium.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I was excited to be able to use the Greek alphabet that we are learning to translate where the Olympics had been held!

 

 

 

 

 

 Kayla is pointing to Lykavittos Hill, which we hiked a few weeks ago, it's the really tall hill in the distance with a Church sitting on top of it.

 

 

We really enjoyed the stadium, but we were hot and hungry when we were done exploring it. We walked around trying to find a place open for lunch. We didn't have any luck, so we decided to skip the Temple of Zeus for today and head home for lunch.

That afternoon we did a fitness mile run/walk, trying to gauge how fit the kids were before we started our PE program this year. Elijah ran/walked the mile in 12.44, and he slowed down a few times for Matt to catch up with him, or his time would have been faster. Kayla's time was 15.31 and I had slowed down for her so I wouldn't leave her behind, and my time was 15.21. We had fun and plan to shave time off of our time as we work on being more fit this year.

As I was putting Kayla to bed she exclaimed again about how much fun she had had. A successful Greece day :)

Lykavittos Hill

     My sweet honey took another day off work today to spend with me and the kiddos. We decided to hike Lykavittos Hill today, which is said to be the highest point in Athens. We left our apartment at a little after 8, trying to beat the heat of the day. We parked at the Embassy and walked to Lykavittos Hill and then hiked up to the top. It took us about an hour to walk from the Embassy and then hike up, taking short breaks here and there.
    A few views on the way up the hill...

 Views from the top...Starting with the Acropolis...

 What do you do when someone keeps complaining they are hot ;)

 Cutest view at the top!

 Temple of Zeus from the top...

 On the way down again, you can see some of the steps we climbed.

     If you ever visit Athens, this is a must see. You can see everything from the top I hear that it has amazing sunset views as well and some day we will go back and see them.
We really enjoyed our hike, the exercise, the company and the views. It was a great morning!
     Matt trying to get a picture of the two of us. The sun was on the screen so it was hard to tell what we were getting a picture of!

There is a lot going on in the world right now and I can't tell you how blessed I feel to be able to spend such light-hearted moments with my sweet family.

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." James 1:17